Public Meeting Policy Review-City Stonewalls Reply

First, let me apologize up front for the length of this post.  It is lengthy because I want to quote some items completely:

For some background, one might want to read this article in the Shawnee Dispatch http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/aug/10/kendall-what-shawnees-public-meeting-policy-review/
On Wed, 8/7/13 I emailed Councilmember Neighbor since he is the current council president and as such serves as chairman of the council committee:

From: Ray Erlichman
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 5:30 PM
To: Jim Neighbor
Subject: Public comments at Committee meetings

 

Jim,

 The below is taken from the brochure that is handed out to the public concerning meetings.

 Please reply as to why do you not ask for public comments?  I believe some folks might have had comments last night.

 Going forward it would be nice if you complied with the info in this brochure.

 Ray

 City Council Committees

Much of the actual work of the Governing

Body is done in the Council Committee.
The Council Committee Meetings are
held on the first Tuesday following the first
Monday of the month and begin at 7:00 p.m.
Additional meetings can be called by the

Council Committee.

The Council President serves as chair of the

Council Committee. The Vice Chair of the
Council Committee and Council President are
elected on by the Governing Body annually at
the first City Council Meeting in April.
Agendas for these meetings are generally
available at City Hall from the City Manager’s
office at (913) 742-6014 or on the City website
at www.cityofshawnee.org by 8:00 a.m. on the
Friday preceding the meetings.
Committee meetings are generally less
formal than council meetings and discussion
is generally more comprehensive. The
chairperson of the committee will invite
comments on an agenda item from speakers in
the audience. The committees do not take final
action on a topic they discuss; however, they
forward their recommendations to a regular
City Council meeting for formal action by the
entire Governing Body. The Committee does
not entertain comments from the public on
items that are not on the meeting agenda.

 

I then followed that up with an item of additional information:

 

 

Jim

 Just in case you feel that the info in the brochure is not sufficient, the following is extracted from PS-7

 Order of Business, Point of Order, Obtaining the Floor, Public Comment

 D.        No interested person in attendance shall speak more than twice to any question, nor more than five (5) minutes each time, except where such other limitations may be imposed by action of the Governing Body, or the Council Committee, prior to hearing such questions.

 

Ray

 

This is the reply I received:

 

 

Ray, thanks for your comments. As I mentioned in my opening comments Tuesday night, the PS-7 will be discussed at a future committee meeting.

 

I expect that staff will have a revised draft ready by the October or November Committee meeting.  This will be the opportunity for more committee discussion, and public input before the final version is forwarded to  the Council for approval.

 

Jim Neighbor

 Well, I remember when  Mayor Jeff Meyers once said if I didn't get an answer I liked I'd ask the question again.  Well, it's not an answer I don't like, it's the stonewalling and the non-answers that bother me.  The bovine scatological attempt at not responding to a direct question. 

 My reply yesterday:

Jim,

I noticed that you have failed to reply to my original email, not the “part II” below

I still would like to know why public input was not asked for last Tuesday night, as indicated in the brochure handed out by the city with regards to meetings.  I will again quote from that brochure

“The chairperson of the committee will invite

comments on an agenda item from speakers in the audience.”

Saying that it will be discussed at a future meeting is insufficient.  There were no limitations imposed by the committee.  It seems that your actions were arbitrary and capricious.

 

Again, I asked a specific question, and expect a specific reply, not a dance around.  It was an agenda item and comments were NOT asked for.  Did you ever give any thought to the idea that maybe, just maybe, citizen input might have been helpful towards the staff preparing a draft? And that could actually result in reduced staff time in that preparation?  Or maybe you feel that citizens don’t have the ability to suggest workable solutions to various situations.

Thank you

Ray




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Another Rodrock Development Comes Into Question

Last year there were questions concerning park space at a Rodrock Development in Crimson Ridge.

Now there is a question concerning a swimming pool at the Greens of Chapel Creek.

For more information please read this letter in the Shawnee Dispatch http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/aug/07/letter-shawnee-officials-should-keep-eye-greens-ch/

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Shawnee Government - Open or Closed

On next Tues, 8/6/13 at city hall, the council committee will have their regularly scheduled meeting at 7:00PM.

One of the items on the agenda is:

DISCUSS PS-7, CONDUCT AT A PUBLIC MEETING.

PS-7 covers various items.  Among them how the council president is selected, vise-chairman of the committee, AND how input from the public is handled at council meetings.  I'm curious if certain members of the council are going to try and restrict citizen input.  At a council meeting a few weeks ago Jeff Vaught tried to stop a member of the public from coming back to the podium to address some of Vaught's comments.  Since the mayor didn't interject I had to be rude and mention from the audience that the individual was entitled to a second comment period under PS-7.  Ironically, in the next item on the agenda the mayor reiterated that folks are permitted up to two times of no more than 5 minutes on any one subject.  Guess Vaught thinks he runs the council meetings.  Just like he erroneously thought when he was council president that other members of the council had to go through him to request the city manager put items on the agenda.

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the council considers making to this policy statement.

The city inquired of other local governments what their policies and procedures are for meetings and the results of those inquiries are available at

http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwContent/PS7Research?OpenDocument
 
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Dawn Kuhn/Cheryl Scott.........Another Debacle???

Is the City of Shawnee looking at another Cheryl Scott debacle?

According to the City of Shawnee web site Ward III Councilmember Dawn Kuhn has listed an address as 5304 Millbrook St as her residence.  Before anyone complains about privacy violations, the residence address of ALL elected officials has to be public information to verify their eligibility for their office.

That address appeared as a change from 5329 Gleason after her divorce.  That makes sense.  But, does she really live there, or is that simply a "mail drop" or "convenience" address?  (Remember when Phill Kline was appointed JoCo DA?  He was living in Topeka as Attorney General, and then when he became JoCo DA he wound up with an apartment in JoCo.  Except his wife/kids still lived in Topeka and he was constantly driving back and forth).

Anyway, back to Kuhn.  Unfortunately, Kansas law, as written, does make it easy for someone to establish residency at one address, even though they actually reside elsewhere.  When someone does that though, are they being fair to their constituents?  Anyway, does Kuhn actually live on Millbrook?

Now, let's move forward a couple of months.  It is my understanding that she has announced her engagement and is getting remarried in January.  Her fiancé owns a home in Ward IV.  Once the nuptials are over is she going to resign her Ward III seat, or, is she going to claim that she still "lives" on Millbrook?

Time will tell.  I might have to consult with the Oracle at Shawnee at Gum Springs Park for a more definitive answer.

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First Responders Summer Games Kansas Special Olympics

Come out and cheer for the Shawnee First Responders as they participate in the Summer Games for the Special Olympics.

The event is being held:


Saturday, August 3rd 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Olathe District Athletic Center
20925 W. 159th St., Olathe, KS 66062

Another Visit to the Oracle at Shawnee

On 7/19 I posted about my trip to the Oracle at Shawnee.  At that time I asked the Oracle for information about who might be getting the job of PIO in Shawnee. 

Remember, the ancient Greeks had their Oracle at Delphi, located in the Temple of Apollo. We have our Oracle at Shawnee located in Gum Springs Park.  It is from the slides of the play area that we get our visions into the future.

I recently paid another visit to the Oracle and made another inquiry.

The Oracle was asked:  "Oh great and wise Oracle do you see anything more about who will become the Public Information Officer in Shawnee?

The Oracle responded:  "The answer is in the wind, and one must look to the sky for the Sigma Pi"

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Will Shawnee Follow Olathe?

Reference is made to the post below about whether the mayor of Shawnee is planting the seed for a tax increase.

Recently, the City of Olathe made an announcement of what might be happening in their city, because of street repairs/upgrades being back burnered for so long.

I will quote Olathe's comments here, but should someone want to verify that these are the city's comments, and NOT a blogger's opinion, please go here:  http://www.olatheks.org/news/2013/07/10/council-consider-addressing-street-maintenance-funding-shortfall

Posted: July 10, 2013, 01:28:11 PM

Olathe City Manager Michael Wilkes discussed the current Olathe street funding challenge with the City Council on Tuesday and outlined why it should be addressed sooner rather than later.  Wilkes said, “The bottom line is if we don’t begin funding our street maintenance at a significantly greater level, in 10 years or less our taxpayers will be paying at least 10 to 15 times what is needed today for streets.”  “It is our responsibility to make sure we don’t create that major burden for ourselves and future tax payers if we can avoid it,” he said.

According to City staff, an additional $9.26 million per year (average) is needed to adequately fund street maintenance over the next 10 years.  Without which, the cost of repairing streets will increase exponentially and dramatically.  The City currently maintains over 1,200 lane miles valued at over $1 billion.

Wilkes indicated that the City has been investing as much general (operational) fund cash as it responsibly can in street maintenance despite making significant cuts to other operations over the past several years.  However, he cautioned that diverting enough money to cover the street maintenance shortfall would have unacceptable consequences.  Wilkes said, “Today, we are spending nearly 70% of our general fund money on transportation and public safety because that’s where our tax payers have told us they want it invested.”  He continued, “Much of the remainder of the budget goes to programs (IT, Human Resource, Finance, etc.) that serve in critical support roles, yet those are the areas that have seen the vast majority of cuts. The fact is, we simply cannot divert the revenue needed without seeing services impacted in the areas our residents say are most important.”

Wilkes said staff has been evaluating this issue for several years, and ultimately came to the conclusion that asking voters to consider a sun-setting 10-year, 3/8^th cent sales tax was the most responsible approach.   “The Council has the ability to increase the mil rate, but that rate increase only applies to our property owners, not to all the people using our streets including the many thousands who live outside Olathe,” Wilkes said.  In addition, Wilkes said he believes this is consistent with City Council direction.  “A sales tax would require voter approval, and I know the Council believes this decision would rise to the level where Olathe tax payers should have a direct voice.” 

According to Wilkes, the funding shortfall would be adequately addressed by a combination of the sales tax and the City’s continued commitment to increase general fund cash contributions to the program.  He said, “This issue will not be solved by just passing the sales tax but also by increasing City operational fund commitments and continued belt tightening.”

If approved, Olathe would join the majority of other Kansas City area larger cities that have implemented a sales tax to fully or partially fund street maintenance.  The City Council is expected to decide whether or not to bring a sales tax question to voters by August 6.

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Is The Mayor Planting Seed for Tax Increases?

The following was sent out in an email to those who have signed up for the city's email notification system and is also posted on the city's web site at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwNews/2D13837D6D4B627586257BB1007D5448?OpenDocument

At the July 22, 2013, City Council meeting, the Governing Body approved the City’s 2014 Budget with no planned property tax rate increase.

Mayor Jeff Meyers commented, “I am pleased that the 2014 Budget addresses many of the priorities identified by the 2012 Citizen Satisfaction Survey including street and sidewalk repairs, emergency management, and communicating with our residents. While we are making some progress, we must continue to explore ways to adequately fund street maintenance and programs that are most important to our Shawnee citizens. Current funding sources will not be enough for the future.”

Is the mayor laying the groundwork for future tax increases?  Is too much of the funding received from Deffenbaugh being set aside for economic development and not enough for infrastructure?  Is the city too free with TIF, CID and other "incentives" to the future detriment of the community?

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Will People Show Up?

Well, tonight, 7/22/13 is when the city council will hold a public hearing on the city's budget and then vote on it. 

The meeting starts at 7:30PM.

I wonder how many folks read the posted agenda items on the city's web site and how many will show up?

The Oracle at Shawnee

The ancient Greeks had their Oracle at Delphi, located in the Temple of Apollo.

We have our Oracle at Shawnee located in Gum Springs Park.  It is from the slides of the play area that we get our visions into the future.

Last night I inquired of the Oracle, "Oh Oracle, with all your wisdom, will the city get a new position added to city staff, that of Public Information Officer?"

And the Oracle responded, "It is an action that will happen.  The Circle of the Octagon has five points that will do the bidding of the tiny one.  The tiny one wields a sword that turns its masters into mere  vassals and makes the vassal the master."

At that I then asked the Oracle, "Oh Oracle, I beseech thee, and who shall be given this new lofty position?"

To this the Oracle then responded, "I see in the mist a man walking towards a chair so inscribed PIO.  A nice man, and one who is familiar.  One who has occupied another chair in the House of Shawnee, but had left it for another Kingdom.  One who has returned to the House of Shawnee, but to occupy a smaller chair, awaiting the loftier one."

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Ghost Writers in Shawnee KS

One of the city manager's arguments to create a public information officer position in the city was to have one person write letters and speeches for the mayor.  Right now she and other members of her office do that.  Gee, the mayor is an educator, coach and mayor.  He can't handle his own?

       Speeches/Letters – every day the mayor gets a letter from some person, sometimes a very interesting letter. We want to respond back. Right now we divvy those out – Avy? does some, I do some, Vickie does some, Candy does some, and it would really be nice to have someone who could manage all those and make sure people get responded-to/communicated-with.

o   Yesterday, the Bayer event, I spent 2 hours of my day drafting the Mayor’s comments for that. He was in a meeting on the Nieman rood corridor, Vickie’s in a human resources meeting. It was fine. It’s what I did. It takes my time to do that too.

o   So, again, it would be really nice to have someone who had the skill set, who had great writing skills, who had the message and story of Shawnee to take on those responsibilities.

Stay tuned for "Shawnee Ray's Crystal Ball"  Going on the premise that the city manager will get the PIO position approved, I'm gonna take a shot at guessing who will get the job.

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Isn't She Lovely...............NOT

Any long term reader of this blog, or attendee at Shawnee City Council Meetings knows about council member Dawn Kuhn's penchant for long winded diatribes.

If something can be said in 2 minutes, she'll take five. If it can be said in five, she'll take fifteen. Ironically, she is the first to complain about other people wasting council time. A review of full minutes and/or audio files would show exactly what percentage of "talk time" she takes. On top of that, she has on many occasions complained about the lack of civility on the council. Yet, IMHO she can be one of the most uncivil of the members. She tries to do it with molasses, sometimes, but can't hide it. Other times she is just uncivil straight up.





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Jeff Vaught is Against Open Government

At the 6/18/13 council committee the item came up regarding the possibility of council members getting tablets and whether or not they should be city owned or should the council members get an allowance to provide their own.

Jeff Vaught apparently would rather have an allowance. Listen to him as he explains why he would rather have an allowance. And this coming from a man who in his campaign literature said he was a "patriot". Vaught's statement clearly indicates he is against open government. See and hear it for yourself.

If you are going to conduct city business on a tablet/iPad be prepared for the info being made available to the public.  Or, what does Jeff Vaught want to hide? 
"I would just say, I would like to, um, and if we do something I would rather have an allowance than the city would provide us and that’s because you know when we say ipad I’d rather say tablet because I would rather have an android device than an ipad but, and then also because it’s something that I would rather own myself and not be subject to the requests that, you know, give it up because someone else wants to see what’s on it because it’s a city owned device. Unfortunate(ly) I think there’s certain people that would make it their hobby to request that letter every two months to see what’s on their devices so, I think I would rather have an allowance."

 

 

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Be Careful With Cigarette Butts

Saturday morning I flew back to KCI after spending a week with my kids and grandkids on the UP of Michigan.  Beautiful country.  Highs in the 70's and lows at night 40's - 50's. 

Anyway, as I'm deplaning I turn my cell phone back on, and just as I approach bag claim the voice mail tone comes on. I look at the screen and it's from the apartment complex I live at.  Hmmmm, well I listen to the VM.  Apparently at around 2:15AM someone tossed a lit cigarette on my balcony.  Whether it came from a careless smoker on another balcony or one walking by flipping it in the air, it started a fire on the balcony.  Fortunately somebody saw the flames, called the FD and they responded rather quickly.  So quickly, that the only damage was to the balcony.  No structural or interior damage occurred.  And, more importantly no people were hurt.

A big thank you to the crew from station 71.  You folks are good

Carelessly disposing of cigarette butts can be disastrous whether it's a single family or multi family structure.  A wooden deck on a single family unit can go up in flames just as easily.

Folks, if you're going to smoke outside on a deck, patio, balcony or whatever, have a coffee can filled with either water or sand, and use it.




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WARNING!!!!!! Read at Your Own Risk

WARNING!!!!!  Please be advised that according to the city manager of Shawnee, KS, local blogs may contain bad or misinformation.  That is part of the justification she is using to create a new public information officer position which could cost up to $70K per year.

Therefore, when you read anything on this blog, remember, the information here may be bad or created to misinform.  It is suggested that people take the information here and do their own research to verify or disprove any of the statements contained herein.

We realize that we are not like the mayor, the city manager, or certain members of the city council. These folks never provide bad or misinformation to the public.  The information provided by them is always accurate, spot on and never misleading.  Hmmmm, I wonder if this last paragraph would be considered bad or misinformation?  :-)    :-)

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Keep 'Em in the Dark...............

Keep who in the dark?  Well, the people of Shawnee, that's who. 

Now, why do I say this?  Easy.....at last week's committee meeting the agenda packets again (as usual) did not include all the info. 

See, what happens is the city posts an agenda packet on line, and then the same thing is available at city hall before the meeting.  But, not all of the info is in there.  The full spectrum of information which is going to be discussed with the documents is left off.  In this case, it was more items concerning the proposed budget.  Very similar situation as to the one I posted about on 5/26 below entitled "Open Government???  Yeah Right!!!!" (scroll down to read it if you'd like).

Now, sometimes the info is included in the minutes packet, after the fact, and that can be weeks after the meeting.

I'm waiting to hear councilmember Jeff Vaught start pontificating about how the city received an award for open government.  If one reads the basis for that, it concerns mostly a web site with links to certain items.............but it does not include a review of the completeness of those items or their depth.  Part of this was covered in my post of 9/14/2012 "Shedding Light on Sunshine Review" http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2012/09/shedding-light-on-sunshine-review.html  The city got its high rating just when the topic of going back to full meeting minutes came up for a vote. It's also interesting, that as a result of a KORA request, we found out that there was a flurry of emails back and forth for a few days preceding that award, (and the vote on the minutes) with the city pushing to see what it had to do to upgrade its rating.  Coincidental, huh?

OK, this is probably going to be one of the posts that the city manager will probably label as bad or misleading information.

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Kuhn Critical of Other Councilmembers for Asking Questions About Budget

On June 4, 2013 at a council committee meeting (regarding the budget) in Shawnee KS there was an item on the budget that two council members asked for clarification. It involved spending at least $5,000 for dental work on a new police dog that cost $15,000. One councilmember (Michelle Distler) was curious if that money could be recouped from the dealer. Most special bred dogs come with some form of medical guarantee. The other councilmember, (Dr. Mike Kemmling), a dentist, was curious as to exactly what type of work was done. Two simple questions, yet Dawn Kuhn thought her fellow council members shouldn't be asking these questions.  The two councilmembers who asked the questions did so in a very polite, respectful manner.

 

 

 

 

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Shawnee Citizen Police Academy 2013

The Shawnee Police Department will be holding their next Citizen Police Academy from Sep 5 to Nov 14.  Sessions will be on Thursday evenings except for two Saturdays.

This is a wonderful opportunity for citizens to find out more about what our PD does.  Individuals have to be over 18 and preference is given to individuals who either live or work within Shawnee as the class size is limited to 20.

More information is available at http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/vwNews/806A1371FA17F194862578F00053AF40?OpenDocument

and
http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/c0019294e957d2c28525754a004b58b4/1f63b144015267ea862578cb00715d24?OpenDocument

An on line application is available at
http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/c0019294e957d2c28525754a004b58b4/aca253c9a50da3a6862578d200517b6a?OpenDocument

I personally attended the academy in 2012 and was impressed with the way the classes were conducted.  We were also given information as to what an individual has to do to become a police officer in Shawnee.  Very informative. 



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New Forum Set Up

We have set up a new forum at http://www.shawneeray.proboards.com/

We tried this about 4 years ago but some of the posts were downright nasty. That is not the concept. Vulgarity will not be accepted.

Anybody can read this forum. But to post a comment an individual needs to register. Folks may choose a screen name rather than using their own name. Also, if they do not want to use their identifiable email addresses then I would suggest getting a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo type of email address. You will need that to obtain access code info.

Perseverance Pays Off For Shawnee PD, And the Community

On Tuesday night I just had to address the city council and get it on the record what a tremendous job the PD has done in the Gerry Grovenburg murder case.

Tenacity and perseverance pays off.  One individual is now incarcerated pending trial and the info is out there on his accomplice.

Most people are under false impressions of how police departments solve crimes.  We see on TV that a detective gets some evidence with his/her morning coffee and then by his/her lunch has the lab, DNA, ballistics, medical examiner's, toxicology reports etc. all finalized.

It doesn't work that way.  Those reports take time It takes hard work, and an ability to connect the dots.  Leads must be continuously followed up and double checked.  When the PD presents the info to the DA for prosecution they have to be able to back up their conclusions.

Some cases are harder to solve than others.  This was one of them. But, the men and women of our PD never gave up.  We have a great department.

The next time you see one of our local cops, give 'em a thumbs up.  Let 'em know you appreciate them.

For more info on what happened go to http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/may/29/two-men-charged-connection-2010-shawnee-murder/

Memorial Day - 2013

Memorial Day 2013

The Star Spangled Banner without a rock diva, Super Bowl XXXIX

And yes, I'm proud to be an American, and I won't apologize for it,

Open Government??? Yeah, right!!!!

Ya gotta love it.

How did we find out that the proposed Public Information position would cost approximately $70K?

Was that info listed on line in the agenda packet before the committee meeting?  Noper.

Was it available in the packet that was given out at the meeting to the public?  Noper.

The info became known because Mr. Sawyer asked about that cost as that is how it was listed in the documents he received.

So, is it a big show to have these budget meetings open to the public with INCOMPLETE info?

Ahhh yes, now these comments of mine today are probably going to be considered bad information which is supposedly one of the justifications for creating this position.

Shawnee Strongly Supports Our Guard & Reserve

The City of Shawnee is one of 30 finalists for the 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

Since 2,899 employers were nominated this is quite a feat to be in the final selection group of 30.

Fifteen of the 30 will be selected for the award, which will take place this summer.

As a veteran, I am very happy to hear this about Shawnee.

More information is available at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwNews/666AF67122A8660786257B730063BEF4?OpenDocument

Ooops, Did I Make A Mistake?

Regarding the possibility of the city establishing a public information officer position I posted an item on 5/1/13.  (You can scroll down to read the whole post)

Part of that post contained the statement:

The city staff has a city manager, a deputy city manager (recently promoted from assistant city manager) and an assistant to the city manager.  Heck, which one of them has been putting the publicity stuff up on the city's web site?  And what about the emails that go out to the listserv addresses?  And the facebook and twitter stuff already?  And can't one of them handle verbal and or written communications with the local media?

Well, what was the mistake?  The city no longer has an assistant to the city manager.  That person is now an Assistant City Manager.  Promotion time.  This came out last night when part of the budget was being reviewed.

Also last night, Councilmember Sawyer questioned the projected remuneration for that position.  Apparently the document he was looking at showed $70,000.  The city manager said that it could be less depending on the person who was hired.  Mr. Sawyer wanted to know if that $70K was salary or if it included salary plus approximately an additional 25% in benefits.  If that figure sticks, then the position would pay approximately $55K in salary and approximately $15K in benefits.

So, now we know that a City Manager, a Deputy City Manager and an Assistant City Manager are not equipped to answer questions from the media/public and/or issue press releases concerning the city.  If they were equipped and capable, then the city manager would not be asking for the additional position.

Letters, They Get Letters (and don't respond)

A copy of a letter I sent to the governing body on 4/9/13

Please pay attention to the part where I ask for verification of Dawn Kuhn's statement.  To date, I have not received any such verification.  Nobody has produced any verification that I had been given that answer for "six years".  Well, that leads me to believe that:
a.  Kuhn is so arrogant that she feels she doesn't need to respond
b.  No such documentation exists which means Kuhn was telling a fairy tale (lying)

Also, she said that 3 lawyers told her it could be a HIPPA violation.  Geeee, I spoke to lawyers also, and they say only med professionals who release info without authorization are guilty of HIPPA violations.  Only problem is that Kuhn's comments are on the record.

What else has she not been forthcoming about?  Gee, she has never explained why she gets her city pay check as "White" and her city expense checks as "Kuhn".  Strange.

I even wonder if her current address is valid.  After her divorce she relocated to another address in Ward 3.  Or did she?  Is it possible that she is pulling a Phill Kline?  Is that address just a "mail drop" (which unfortunately would still be legal) but that she is domiciled elsewhere?  Outside of Ward 3?

Governing Body

As you may recall approximately two weeks ago I addressed council and inquired to have Mr Willoughby provide the law that said sharing rooms was illegal.

At that point Ms Kuhn immediately started one of her excessively verbose commentaries with regards to HIPPA, potential lawsuits, etc.  What I found intriguing was that Ms Kuhn stated that was the same answer that had been provided to me every year for six years when I brought up the subject

Can Ms Kuhn or anyone produce documentation (city minutes or audio) that what she says is accurate? That I had been given that answer in the past?  The usual response has been a  perfunctory “thank you for coming up”.  I sincerely question the veracity of her statement.  It is interesting to note that Mr Willoughby admitted he should not have used the term illegal.

That now brings up another item.  Ms Kuhn’s attempt to have me cut off after her speech.  Because I appeared to be asking a question?

 First, when a member of the public comes up to speak they are going to either make a statement or ask a question.  Granted, the answer may not be readily available, and may take some time to gather, but a question from the public is normal.  Second, when a member of the council engages in a long winded commentary doesn’t a member of the community have the right to respond?  Or are we attempting to cut off the public?

A few weeks ago during a meeting one individual got up and after five minutes Ms Kuhn mentioned to the mayor the time limit.  Ironically the next speaker (Mr. Chipman) spoke for over 20 minutes and at no time did Ms Kuhn attempt to advise the mayor of the time limit.  Selective permissions?

Does Shawnee really want to have its openness challenged?  And that can be done very easily.  Ms Kuhn was concerned about lawsuits regarding HIPPA.  What about actions regarding the 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution and Section 3 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution?

The mayor has publicly stated that some people ask too many questions.  Maybe the problem is that not enough citizens ask more questions

Rob Roberts to Leave the Shawnee Dispatch

Rob Roberts will be leaving the Shawnee Dispatch to take a position with the Kansas City Business Journal.  We would like to wish Rob the best as he joins the staff of one of the more prestigious niche periodicals in the metro area.

Rob's tenure with the Dispatch was a welcome change from that of some of his predecessors.  As a skilled, long term journalist he realized that he had a responsibility to tell it like it is. As such, he reported the good, the bad and the ugly, which did not necessarily endear him to certain folks at city hall.  There are some who feel that a local paper should only be a cheerleader for the city.  That is wrong.  Maybe that is one of the reasons why the city now wants a PIO, because they could not have control over the local media, like they had in the past.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Rob's replacement handles things.  Will he be realistic and objective, reporting all aspects of what happens?  Or will he, like some others become a puppet for city hall?

Another thing that time will tell.

Google This

Last night, at a hastily called special City Council meeting the city approved an agreement to get the ball rolling on bringing Google Fiber to Shawnee.

Super high speed internet (and TV) will be very good for Shawnee's residents and eventually businesses.  Another benefit will be that the city offices will be connected through the fiber network and WiFi at no charge.  Sounds like a savings of taxpayer money to me.  Believe the agreement is for a ten year period.

My only question is why did the mayor have to call a special meeting (less than 8 hours before the meeting time)?  Why couldn't this have been handled at the next regular council meeting?  That would also have allowed folks to read and absorb the info, and if needed, to be able to ask questions.

No time frame is available yet.

Fireworks or Spinworks

The more I think about the city manager wanting to hire a full time public information officer, the more I wonder why.

Shawnee is a city of approximately 62,000 folks.  The city staff has a city manager, a deputy city manager (recently promoted from assistant city manager) and an assistant to the city manager.  Heck, which one of them has been putting the publicity stuff up on the city's web site?  And what about the emails that go out to the listserv addresses?  And the facebook and twitter stuff already?  And can't one of them handle verbal and or written communications with the local media?

Now, if the city has that kind of money, and who knows what the position is going to pay (plus benefits), I'd like to see us get our July 4th fireworks in Shawnee Mission Park back.

So, if you agree with me, email the council and the mayor by sending an email to governingbody@cityofshawnee.org   When you send an email there it goes to all 8 council members and the mayor.  Let them know that you'd rather have fireworks instead of spinworks.

Also, if you know of anybody else who might also like that idea, please pass this on to them.

Time Will Tell

An interesting, possibly positive thing happened at the 4/22/13 city council meeting.

The necessary machinery was put into effect to start the first building (150,000 sq ft) in the Westlink Business Center Industrial Park.

The information that was presented by Andrew Nave, Executive Director of the Shawnee Economic Development Council was that the building would eventually be home to approximately 320 new jobs for Shawnee.  He also went on to show us what number of those would be new residents (80), new students in the schools, and all of the other pertinent demographics to include various dollar figures.

Personally I think the building will bring new jobs to Shawnee.  And, I believe it will bring some new residents, students for the schools and additional money.

What I don't believe is, IMHO, the over inflated numbers.  We have all seen these types of buildings in other industrial parks. 

Many of them become very large warehouse/distribution centers, which, because of automation, may have 2-3 dozen employees.

Other buildings like this wind up being subdivided into 8-12 smaller units.  These then become small businesses, (usually of a mini warehouse/distribution type) which may employ 3-9 people each

So, do I think this is a positive step?  Yes.  Do I think the numbers presented to the council were pie in the sky?  Yes. 

But then, time will tell.................

Sidebar:  We still haven't heard anything about creating a destination venue to draw from all the athletic tournaments, NASCAR races, concerts etc.



 

New Position At City Hall

At last week's committee meeting the city manager gave an over view of the 2014 city budget.

One item, as reported in the Shawnee Dispatch is somewhat interesting:  http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/apr/23/city-manager-2014-budget-wont-require-tax-increase/ 

"In addition, staff is recommending the addition of two new city employees, a public information officer and an emergency manager, as high-priority budget issues.
According to Gonzales, Shawnee’s first public information officer is needed to get out more and accurate information to satisfy public demand and to counter bad information sometimes disseminated by bloggers and traditional media sources.

The city’s image has suffered as a result of not having anyone dedicated to the city’s public information effort full-time, Gonzales added. In addition to promoting good news stories about the city and countering inaccurate information, she said, the public information officer would be responsible for maximizing use of social media and other communications avenues."

"Bad information disseminated by bloggers and traditional media sources."  Hmmm, I thought nobody cared about what local bloggers say    Traditional media sources.....does that mean that the city is upset that they have been unable to control the local traditional media?  That they are no longer the rah rah cheerleaders for the city and now show all sides of a story?

Bad information?  Notice the choice of words......."bad information".  Well, if folks don't want "bad information"  to be disseminated, then don't do bad things.  What bad things?  Oh, things like appointing a relative of the mayor to a council position in a manner that the JoCo DA calls it a violation of the spirit of the Kansas Open Meetings Act?  Or sending eight people to a conference in Boston? 

A public information officer...............hmmmm.....will that person be objective?  Or will their function be to provide only the good, forgetting the bad and the ugly?  Will they ignore citizen inquiries, like some council members do and fail to respond to valid questions? (More on that coming soon).

How many JoCo cities have a public information officer?

An afterthought:  Waiting to hear the comments from certain councilmembers justifying the PIO position......especially those who were against spending the money to restore full minutes of council meetings.

Sign Up - Stay Informed

Many times I have ranted about the lack of citizen involvement with city government.  The fact is, it is very poor in Shawnee.

One thing citizens can do is sign up for the city's email notification system.  You can receive advance notice of meetings (council, committees, boards and commissions) along with copies of the agendas.  You can also choose to receive notice of bids, job openings and some other items.

Get on the email notification list............it might just help to keep you up to date on what is happening.

Go here to sign up http://www.cityofshawnee.org/Web/ShawneeCMS.nsf/frmSignUp?OpenForm

Another Race Weekend, Another Lost Opportunity

Ahh yes.  This weekend there will be another race at the Kansas Speedway, and, as in the past, Shawnee will miss out on some tangential income.

Granted, our two hotels at Midland & I-435 will see an increase as well as the eateries in that area.  But what are we really missing?  Where is that third one?

There are a variety of events held at the Village West complex.  Various races at the Kansas Speedway, Concerts, Minor League Baseball etc. Add to that the various athletic tournaments that come into the area. We get very little bleed off from these.  Why?  Because we do not have a substantial amount of destination venues in Shawnee.  In reality, we don't have any destination venues.

There are some members of the council who keep saying they are in favor of economic development.  Well, where is it?  Yes, I know, there are plans to develop an area by K7 and the river into an industrial park (warehouses and manufacturing spaces).  Someday, down the road. But where are the plans for revenue generators?  Hotels, restaurants, entertainment facilities.  True destination venues.  Warehouses and manufacturing facilities do not get us bleed off from the events at Village West.

Another weekend, and more lost opportunities to bring income into Shawnee.

City Budget Process

Over the years I have heard many folks wonder why certain things were or were not done in the city.

Things ranging from street maintenance to public safety staffing.  From parks maintenance to sewer maintenance.  What I usually hear is why was this done?  Or, why didn't we do that?

Most of the answers are based on financial considerations.  Just like folks sit down and review their family's finances, the city does the same.  When people ask most of their questions is after the fact.
Whooops, wrong time for the public to get involved.

The time to get involved is up front, yet the citizen participation at council meetings is severely lacking in Shawnee.

The city has published its schedule of meetings that will involve the budget process.  That can be viewed at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/b62f116aa62dde94862575680053ac82/b68e0226e0c94c6586257b4b004a7211?OpenDocument

Get involved...............show up at these meetings...............inquire of your council members ahead of time about budget items that concern you (as opposed to after the fact).  Let them know what you agree with..............and what you may disagree with.  Find out why things are or are not done.  Be informed.

Local Entertainment - Shawnee City Council

The Shawnee Dispatch has a neat article about last Tuesday's city council meeting.   http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/apr/10/neighbor-vaught-win-council-leadership-positions-d/

Going to a council meeting can be a great form of entertainment.

When the vote was taken for Pflumm for Vice-Chair I could have sworn that it sounded like 5-3 in favor, but apparently the mayor could not determine that, so he went for a roll call.  True, Jim Neighbor was the first to vote, and after a long pause, and a stare down from the mayor, he voted no.  That then brought up the 4-4 vote,

Kuhn's comment to the mayor that she would like to be considered for the Vice-Chair position was actually an "off mike" comment, as she leaned across and addressed the mayor directly.  It took an obnoxious out of order citizen to yell out from the floor "What did she say?" to get the mayor to say what it was.  Kuhn does that a lot, talks sideways to the mayor, when she needs to be speaking directly into the microphone.  Anyway, it was kind of funny that nobody seconded the nomination for her to be Vice-Chair.  Bet her ego took a wrap on that one.

I found that very entertaining in view of her comments that the council president was elected not as a popularity contest or longevity, but for someone who could fill in for the mayor.  So, Jim Neighbor can fill in for the mayor?  Couldn't prove it to me.  He is probably one of the least active members of the council at the meetings.  He says very little so it is hard to tell what his position is until a vote comes along.  But, one does not know why he votes that way either.  But I guess Kuhn must know what talents he possesses to fill in for the mayor.

Local Business Robbed and Vandalized

Prepress Graphics and Professionals was broken into this past Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning.

Thieves not only stole various items, they then vandalized and destroyed equipment on the premises.  The business is owned by Dan Distler, father of Ward IV council member Michelle Distler.

More information about what happened is available at the Shawnee Dispatch's web site http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/apr/03/printing-firm-owned-officials-father-robbed-vandal/

If anyone has information about this crime they are asked to please call the Shawnee PD at 913-631-2155

Ward II Residents Are The Winners

In yesterday's council election the residents of Ward II made themselves the winners.  They chose Mike Kemmling as their new council member over Alan Willoughby (the mayor's uncle by marriage).

Willoughby's appointment last summer to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of David Morris caused a major uproar.  The uproar culminated in the JoCo DA issuing a statement that the appointment was the result of a backroom deal with the mayor as the ringleader.

Kemmling who also applied for the open position at that time had previously run against Neal Sawyer and lost by only 11 votes (661 to 650).  Disregarding the strong showing Kemmling had displayed the position went to Willoughby.

So, yesterday, the residents of Ward II showed that they were fed up with cronyism and nepotism.  They, the residents of Ward II, became the real winners.

Congratulations to the residents of Ward II and to Mike Kemmling.

Which Face is Jeff Vaught Showing Today - Part 2?

Let's talk about the minutes of the council meetings.

At one point we had detailed minutes of council proceedings.  With audio CDs available for a fee.

Then, Vaught got involved with the movement by some, not all, but enough, of the city council to change that to summary minutes with audio available.  Now, what was supposed to be summary minutes actually turned out to be action minutes, an even less informative method of a written record.

On his facebook page Vaught indicates that he was a positive force in getting the issue of bringing back detailed minutes.  Well, in a way he was.

But, what happened when the issue came before the council committee (8/21/12)?  Now, since we only had action minutes at that time basically only the final vote is recorded.  Vaught was one of 4 councilmembers who voted against bringing back the detailed minutes.  Since four others voted in favor, the item was moved forward to the council meeting of 9/10/12 with a "no recommendation" from the committee.  If someone wants to listen to the audio of the council committee meeting of 8/21/12 it is available on the city's site.  Listen to it and then make up your own mind if Vaught was in favor of reinstating full minutes. 

At the full council meeting of 9/10/12 he did vote to reinstate the full minutes.  Ironically, at various subsequent council meetings he has made negative comments about the costs of those minutes.  But, I guess full minutes aren't as important as sending 8 people to Boston for a conference (when 4 or less would have been more than sufficient).

Is It A "Goode" Letter?

Recently, the Shawnee Dispatch ran an article about a letter signed by Frank Goode. 

The letter purportedly has Frank withdrawing support for Mike Kemmling and endorsing Alan Willoughby.

The Dispatch goes into quite a bit of detail on how this letter turns up the Friday before the last published edition of the paper.  The reporter did some additional research and it appears that Willoughby walked into the nursing facility where Frank was, and, as Frank says he (Frank) was a little "dopey".  Frank has had some major medical problems and apparently has gone through various procedures and apparently different meds.

Read the article and see for yourself.  It looks to me like a candidate (Willoughby) was trying to take advantage of a sick old man who was medicated for his health problems, and attempting to blame his opponent (Kemmling) for dirty tricks.  Uncle Alan, you should be ashamed of yourself.

As I posted on the Dispatch:  Willoughby is claiming the other side is up to dirty tricks. Hey, Uncle Alan, did you read the DA's letter? Your appointment to the council was a dirty trick, a backroom deal, with your nephew as the ringleader

The article is here:  http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/mar/26/contrary-letter-frank-goode-not-taking-sides-counc/

Which Face is Jeff Vaught Showing Today?

Jeff Vaught appears to be very proud of the fact that at one time he was the president of his Homeowner's Association (Crimson Ridge).  It's in his literature, his web site etc.  My question is, are his neighbors proud of him now?

There has been much written in the Kansas City Star and The Shawnee Dispatch about the proposed Crimson Ridge Stream Mitigation Bank locally referred to as the "snake habitat".  An on line search will come up with a plethora of articles.

Basically, this is something that the residents of his sub-division are not happy about.  Ironically, neither is the US Department of the Interior or the Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.shawneefwiw.com/files/CrimsonRidge/EPA_comments.pdf
http://www.shawneefwiw.com/files/CrimsonRidge/DOI_FWS_comments.pdf

Has Mr. Vaught done anything to encourage the city to also object to this project?  He is the council member for Ward III.  Or, has he abandoned his neighbors in their fight?

Some additional info on this can be found at:
http://blog.shawneefwiw.com/?p=62
and
http://www.whereisourpark.com/

And as mentioned previously, a web search will come up with even more (and links from the two items above). 

The gentleman challenging Vaught for the council seat, Gordon Herron, is also a resident in the Crimson Ridge sub-division.  Vaught needs to be replaced with Gordon Herron.

Cronyism & Nepotism Start Here

It comes as no surprise that a postcard has been mailed to the voters of Ward II with a statement by Mayor Jeff Meyers supporting Alan Willoughby (his uncle by marriage) for election to the city council for a full term.

This endorsement is a classic case of chutzpah.  And if you don't know what that means, please, Google it.

Does the mayor want us to forget that the appointment of Mr. Willoughby to finish out David Morris' term was classified by the JoCo DA as coming about because of "backroom deals" with the mayor being the "ringleader"?

Now the mayor wants the people of Ward II to condone those actions.  I hope they don't.  Dr. Mike Kemmling is not part of the city hall "inner circle" and that circle needs to be broken.

Michelle Distler - Ward IV

At next week's city election, Michelle Distler is running unopposed for Ward IV councilmember.

It would be nice when the residents of Ward IV go to the polls to vote for other offices that appear on the ballot, that they also cast a vote for Michelle Distler.

Her dedication to working on behalf of her constituents is deserving of a confidence vote.

Dan Pflumm for Ward I

On election day, April 2, 2013 methinks the residents of Ward I need to return Dan Pflumm as their councilmember over John Segale.

Recently it needs to be noted, Dan Pflumm was one of two councilmembers who did not go on a junket to Boston for an NLC conference.  Six councilmembers (Neighbor, Sawyer,Willoughby, Kuhn, Vaught, and Sandifer), the mayor and city manager did go, and 4 of them took guests.

Even more importantly, Dan Pflumm (along with Michelle Distler) did not participate in the shenanigans at city hall that resulted in the appoinment of Alan Willoughby (the mayor's uncle by marriage) to the city council.  The JoCo DA referred to those shenanigans as "backroom deals" with the mayor as the "ringleader".  Dan Pflumm stood up to the shenanigans in an attmept to maintain dignity at city hall.

Dan has also been battling to change the way the the landfill impact money the city receives from Deffenbaugh is allocated.  Current policy is for the dollars to be split equally between street maintenance and economic development.  He wants a larger percentage to go for street maintenance, since that is one item that Shawnee has taken a hit on in the recent past.  Dan has also fought for fine tuning the budget as opposed to increasing taxes.

Dan's concern about keeping Shawnee viable as a place to do business is shown by his decision to move his company from a rental office into the former Commerce Bank Building which he bought, right in the middle of downtown Shawnee.

More Vaught Arrogance & Hypocrisy

Jeff Vaught, the classic arrogant example of someone who says "do as I say, not as I do"

In the April 2012 election he was highly critical of  the idea of folks from outside of Shawnee getting involved in Shawnee elections.

So, go to his web site and as of this morning you will see five endorsements:

Tom Zarda
Matt Hughes
Don Julian
Ed Alexander
Jerry Moran

From what I can tell, only Mr. Zarda is a Shawnee resident, and I believe one of the other gentlemen may live out of state.  Now it's also ironic that last year he was critical of state reps (who are Shawnee residents) from getting involved in city elections......yet he has no problems with Mr Moran who eventhough he is a US Senator, he is definitely not a Shawnee resident.  Get all the endorsements you want, just don't be hypocritical and set different "ground rules" for yourself than you try and set for others.

Also on his site he says that he:

"Led the move to eliminate the city's long term retirement liabilities by moving away from a defined benefit plan and migrating to a defined contribution plan."

Did he?  Or was that being worked on way before he was even on the council?  There are other items he seems to be taking credit for that I would question. 

 

Humorous side bar:  When referring to people who serve in the legislature, they are "legislators", not "legislatures".   As in:     "........attends the Legislative Breakfast Series where state legislatures discuss bills and actions currently moving through Topeka."

This man does not deserve to be returned to the city council...........ya gotta vote for Gordon Herron on April 2, 2013.

Willoughby Avoids Backing Up Statement

Ah yes, it seems like Alan Willoughby (the mayor's uncle by marriage) is joining that group of individuals who, when asked a direct question avoid a direct answer.

Background:  At last week's forum between him and Dr. Mike Kemmling, Willoughby was asked if he thought it was ok for the city to send 8 people to Boston for a convention (6 council members, the mayor and the city manager).  He thought that was fine.  He then proceeded to offer the info that 4 of the folks (he being one) had brought guests (at no cost to the city).  He then proceeded to volunteer that the city had been asked about doubling up attendees in hotel rooms and that couldn't be done, because when they got backed they looked it up and it was "illegal".

Illegal?  It's illegal to double up in hotel rooms to save money.  Well, illegal means a violation of law.  So, I did some more research, and couldn't find anything that said it was illegal to double up meeting attendees.  I did find some references that some companies, and government agencies have personnel policies against it, but I did not find anything that said it was illegal.

So, I did what any ordinary citizen would do.  I sent Willoughby an email asking him to provide the information as to where this practice was illegal.  Now that should have been easy for him to do, since, according to him "they" looked it up upon returning from Boston.  So, it should have been readily accessible.

Well, Willoughby hasn't responded.  It's not nice to ignore questions..............it's not nice to make a statement and then not being able to back it up.

Willoughby's appointment to the council was a farce.  He does not deserve to be elected to a full term.